Harvard Hates America

“Angry Young Man” could just as well be used to describe the 25-year-old author of this abrasive book about Harvard University and the sorry state of America’s leadership. He’s angry because–like bright young men of his earlier generations–he went to Harvard expecting to receive the best education America could offer and found instead an atmosphere smelling strongly of elitism and hypocrisy. Here were professors advocating a more just distribution of the nation’s wealth while living comfortably from swollen salaries; students boasting of awakened social consciences only to take plushy jobs on Wall Street after graduation; and, still more alarming, were the courses tailored to fit the personal ideologies of the teachers who “taught” them.

John Leboutillier’s book with the impolite title is a great deal more than angry words. It is the odyssey of an unusual young man who has discovered in himself an unblushing dignity and a unique responsiveness to the ideals of the America he loves.